MAUREEN DOWD’S WHINY MOMENT

Catalyst May Issue 2010

On April 7, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd wrote a piece entitled, “The Church’s Judas Moment.” We couldn’t resist a rejoinder.

It is next to impossible for Dowd to write a piece about the Catholic Church without sounding whiny. Always the victim, Dowd is forever put upon by the boys in robes. That she desperately wants to try one on for size is obvious, but, alas, this is a problem without a remedy. Well, not exactly: there are still a few mainline Protestant churches that might welcome her.

Maureen confessed that she was so flustered by the Vatican, New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan and Bill Donohue that she could not even finish the column, and that is why she invited her “devout Catholic” brother Kevin to pen one in her place. That was a mistake.

Dowd’s brother wrote that since Vatican II, laypeople have been “performing the sacraments.” He later writes that “Married people and laypeople giving the sacraments are not going to destroy the church.” Perhaps someone should have informed Devout Kevin that laypeople are not permitted to give the sacraments.

Devout Kevin also seemed confused about another matter, although with this one he is not alone. He cheered the “liberalized rules of the Vatican,” but noted with sadness that celibacy was not dropped. As a result, he said, the Church ended up “drawing on men confused about their sexuality who put our children in harm’s way.” But homosexuals are no more confused about their sexuality than heterosexuals. He did deserve credit, however, for noting that too many of the wrong guys got into the Church following Vatican II.

We wished Maureen a speedy recovery and hoped that the R&R would have an alembic effect. We also hoped that her brother, Devout Kevin, would access a copy of Catholicism for Dummies.